Chapter LXXVI: Relative Pronouns

=298.= Just as an adverbial clause is joined to what it modifies by a conjunctive adverb or a subordinate conjunction, so an adjective clause must be joined to the noun it modifies by some connecting word.

In Lesson LXVI it was shown that this word may be a conjunctive adverb, as in the sentence, “I can never forget the night when I first heard the whippoorwill sing.” What is the clause here? What does it modify? How is it joined to the word that it modifies?

=299.= Most adjective clauses are introduced by some other word than a conjunctive adverb. In the sentence, “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world,” the adjective clause _that rocks the cradle_ is joined to the noun _hand_, which it modifies, by the word _that_. This word is used as subject of the verb _rocks_, and really means _hand_. Since it takes the place of a noun, it is a pronoun; and since this noun, or antecedent, precedes the pronoun, we say that the pronoun _relates_ to its antecedent, and we call it a =relative= pronoun.

=300.= The relative pronouns that introduce adjective clauses are _who_, _which_, and _that_.

_Who_ has three case forms: nominative, _who_; possessive, _whose_; objective, _whom_.

_Which_ has the possessive form _whose_; _that_ has no possessive form.

_Which_ and _that_ do not change their form for the objective case.

=301.= A relative pronoun always has a use in the adjective clause that it introduces. This is the same use that the antecedent would have if it were used in place of the pronoun.

The four common uses are:—

(1) Subject of a verb; as, “He who fights and runs away may live to fight another day.”

(2) Object of a verb; as, “This is the day that the Lord hath made.”

(3) Object of a preposition; as, “I saw the room in which Shakespeare was born.”

NOTE.—Sometimes the pronoun comes before the preposition; as,
“The buggy that we rode in was low and light.”

(4) Possessive modifier; as, “Any boy whose memory is good can learn a history lesson.”

=302.= The relative pronoun _that_ introduces only restrictive adjective clauses. The pronouns _who_, _whose_, _whom_, and _which_ may introduce either restrictive or unrestrictive clauses.

=303.= _Who_ has for its antecedent the name of some person; _which_ has for its antecedent the name of some thing. The antecedent of _that_ may be the name of a person or a thing.

=304.= The word _but_ may be used as a relative pronoun as a substitute for the two words _that not_. Instead of saying, “There is no day that has not an end,” we may say, “There is no day _but_ has an end.” This is a better sentence than the first because it contains only one negative word.

=305.= The word _as_ may be used as a relative pronoun following the words _such_, _same_, or _as many_. We say,—

I like _such_ flowers _as_ you sent me.

Your dress is the _same_ color _as_ mine.

I will take _as many_ apples _as_ will fill this basket.

I want _such_ a chair _as_ you are sitting in now.

In each of the sentences above, what is the use of the relative pronoun _as_ in the clause that it introduces?

=Summary.=—A =relative pronoun= is one that refers to a preceding noun or pronoun, and joins to it an adjective clause.

The relative pronouns that introduce adjective clauses are _who_, _which_, and _that_.

_As_ and _but_ are sometimes used as relative pronouns.

=306.= When we parse a relative pronoun we tell,—

(1) Its antecedent.

(2) What adjective clause it joins to its antecedent.

(3) Its case.

(4) Its use in the adjective clause.

=Exercise 1.=—Parse all the relative pronouns in the following sentences:—

1. In came the six young followers whose hearts the Misses
Fezziwig broke.

2. There were the wide sweeps of forest through which the
winter tempests howled, upon which hung the haze of summer
heat, over which the great shadows of summer clouds traveled.

3. Susie was a well-behaved child, who took care of her clothes
and played quiet games.

4. And now the dandelion is a pest—the same yellow dandelion
with its long, bitter, milky stem that we children sought for
in the shady fence corners to make into spiral curls.

5. Buffers had a small moustache, which he fostered much, and a
cane with which he was not yet very familiar.

6. She bade me good-by as if I were a friend of her family whom
she would gladly meet again.

7. There is only one bird that terrifies the crow, and that is
the owl.

8. Solomon John proposed that they should open the window, a
thing which Agamemnon could easily do with his long arms.

9. There was one lady whose conversation at the best of times
made my mother sleepy.

10. The two men shared those mysterious rites of smoking and
shaving and discussing stocks which occupy men when they are
left to themselves.

11. The turkey cock, who had been born into the world with
spurs, and thought he was a king, puffed himself out like a
ship with full sails, and flew at the duckling.

12. In a few moments Ned arrived at a small open glade in the
middle of the forest, in which, to his horror, he saw a lion
upon the body of a man, whom he seized by the throat, while
Nero stood within a few yards, baying him furiously.

13. He lives longest who does most.

=Exercise 2.=—Analyze the following sentences:—

1.

No time is like the old time when you and I were young,
When the buds of April blossomed, and the birds of spring-time sung.

2.

No place is like the old place, where you and I were born,
Where we lifted first our eyelids on the splendor of the morn.

3. No friend is like the old friend, who has shared our morning
days.

4. At the teachers’ meeting, which she regularly attended with
her mother, Gertrude saw the pale-faced little lady whom the
children called a “Grahamite.”

5. The old broken gate which a gentleman would not tolerate an
hour upon his grounds is a great beauty in the picture which
hangs in his parlor.

6. Often the road passes between lofty walls of solid rock,
from the crevices of which all lovely growths are springing.

7.

Read from some humbler poet,
Whose songs gushed from his heart,
As rain from the clouds in summer,
Or tears from the eyelids start.

8. Michel was a vivacious, lean little Frenchman, who fulfilled
the duties of a chambermaid very adroitly.

9. The first thing that my pet starling imitated was the
rumbling of carts and carriages on the street.

10. In one corner of the fireplace sat a superannuated crony,
whom the sexton called John Ange, and who had been his
companion from childhood.

11. The good ship _Humber_ is taking home a regiment whose term
of service has expired.

12. Madame took for breakfast two fresh eggs, which her two
hens laid for her every morning with the perfect regularity
that is the politeness of all well-bred poultry.

13.

The boy stood on the burning deck,
Whence all but him had fled.

14. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break
through and steal.

15. Sycamore Ridge might have been one of the dreary villages
that dot the wind-swept plain to-day, instead of the bright,
prosperous elm-shaded town that it is.